Ethereal news

Ethereal news weekly #7

•
7 min read
Subscribe to Ethereal news

Ethereum must pass walkaway test, Base app focuses on trading, Trail of Bits Claude Code skills

Ecosystem

  • Vitalik: Ethereum must pass walkaway test, add features (not halfway fixes) so we can ossify (if we want to), future innovation via client optimization & parameter changes (by validator voting) rather than network upgrades
    • Features include: quantum-resistance, scaling (via ZK-EVM validation & data sampling), partial statelessness & state expiry, account abstraction, gas pricing free of DoS vulnerabilities, PoS economic model decentralized for decades and censorship & centralization resistant block building
  • PSE: privacy experience quantitative survey results (75 users), gap in adoption not from lack of interest but experience failures
  • ETH metrics:
    • Gas (gwei): 0.1 average, 0.0 - 1.9 (12.3 for zero net issuance)
    • ETHUSD: $3,066 - $3,380 (all time high $4,946, August 24, 2025)
    • ETH ETFs: 5% of ETH supply
    • ETHBTC: 0.035 (0.166 for the Flippening)

MetaMask Developer Weekends are for building and you shouldn’t be hunting for docs.

We’ve consolidated everything you need to build on MetaMask, from quickstarts and video tutorials to advanced architecture guides, all in one place. 🦊

MetaMask developer documentation.

Enterprise

  • Ingenico: merchant payment terminals can accept stablecoins via WalletConnect Pay

Applications

Developers

  • Argot roadmap: milestones & priorities for Solidity, Fe, Sourcify, ethdebug, Act & hevm
  • Hardhat v3.1.4 (dev framework): adds HTML coverage report & fixes code coverage calculation
  • Slither 0.11.4 (static analyzer): adds CLZ opcode support, Solidity custom storage layouts & unindexed event address detector
  • Browser RPC (proxy server): sign transactions from scripts (Foundry, Hardhat & viem) via browser wallet
  • Quixote (indexer): index events (requires RPC) & then query (SQL); inbuilt front end
  • Optimism actions (TypeScript SDK): modules to integrate DeFi into applications; developer preview
  • x402 hackathon: winning projects (selected by Austin Griffith)
  • Ethereum Community Foundation:
    • Ethereum MCP (Model Context Protocol) query Ethereum using Claude; data sources: Etherscan, DeFiLlama, CoinGecko, growthepie, Blobscan & Dune
  • Application layer standards (ERCs):
    • ERC8124: ERC20 alias metadata extension
    • ERC8126: AI agent registration & verification
    • ERC8127: Human readable token identifiers

Security

All core devs (main protocol calls)

Tim Beiko moving on from L1 R&D to explore frontier use cases

All core devs - execution (ACDE) #228

All core devs - testing (ACDT) #65

  • BPO3 (blob parameter only upgrade):
    • not urgent based on current usage, getBlobV3 + partial cell messages would need to be implemented by all consensus layer clients
  • Glamsterdam upgrade:
    • Bal-devnet-2: targeting late January, will add non-headliners: EIP8024 SWAPN, DUPN & EXCHANGE, EIP7708 ETH transfers emit a log, EIP7778 block gas accounting without refunds and potentially EIP7843 SLOTNUM opcode (requires consensus layer change)
    • Bal-devnet-3: plan to add four more non-headliner EIPs
    • ePBS: spec discussions on new bid minimum increase (DoS mitigation), withdrawals & builder onboarding at fork

Layer 1

Research

Staking

  • ethStaker staker console: deposit, top up, upgrade to 0x02, consolidate, withdraw, exit & batch actions; Hoodi testnet only, mainnet pending audit
  • Lodestar (consensus layer client): multi-layered defense strategy against npm supply chain attacks
  • Toni Wahrstätter: MEV builder bids adds proposer to live view of auction
  • Client diversity:
    • Consensus layer: Lighthouse ~38% (data may not be accurate)
    • Execution layer: Geth ~41%, Nethermind ~38% (estimated from self reports)
  • Staking marketshare: Lido 24% [Note: dual governance]
  • Validators: 976k active
  • Client releases:
    • Execution layer:
      • Erigon v3.3.3 (recommended): Discovery v5 enabled by default, fixes for committee counts, syncing, Shutter, half block execution stability & p2p vulnerability
      • Geth v1.16.8 (security fix): resolves two p2p vulnerabilities that can impact liveness reported via Ethereum Foundation bug bounty program
      • Nethermind 1.36.0: operator ergonomics & RPC/execution correctness hardening improvements, estimateGas aligned with Geth behavior, .NET 10 migration and obsolete config & analytics removed
      • Reth v1.10.0 (medium): performance improvements, new RPC endpoints (including getBlobsV3), CLI enhancements & extended OP Stack flashblock support

Layer 2

  • Taiko (rollup) proof dashboard: ZK coverage & proof time across batches and proof latency

Regulation

  • US crypto market structure legislation (Clarity act):
    • Senate banking committee: draft, markup postponed
      • Coinbase withdrew support due to tokenized equities defacto ban, DeFi prohibitions, CFTC authority eroded & restricting stablecoin rewards (allowing banks to ban their competition)
    • Senate agriculture committee: schedule, release January 21 & markup January 27

General

Editor: @abcoathup
Permalink: ethereal.news/ethereal-news-weekly-7

Ethereal news weekly #6
Back to archive